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In this episode, Trent examines one of the most controversial stories in the Old Testament to expose the biggest mistake Bible critics make.
When Atheists Misread the Bible
Hard Sayings: A Catholic Approach To Answering Bible Difficulties
Transcription
Trent:
When you listen to critics on the internet, there’s a similar bad argument. Many of them parrot. How could anyone support the Bible when it has such awful things in it? Some of these critics even want to ban the Bible using obscenity laws that are meant to protect children.
CLIP:
It talks about adultery, talks about beastiality, talks about cannibalism. One doesn’t have to turn very far in the Bible to find something that is just egregious, and I’m not sure why we teach those lessons to our children.
Trent:
These kinds of arguments can catch average Christians off guard when they only remember the more pleasant stories they might’ve heard in Sunday school. So in today’s episode, we’re going to show how to answer this argument and use one particularly gruesome story from the Old Testament as a case study in doing so. But before we do that, there are two rules you need to remember. Rule number one, don’t forget to like this video and subscribe to our channel to help it grow and so that you don’t miss our great content. And also check out our premium community that makes all of this possible@trentornpodcast.com. And rule number two, when reading the Bible, remember that just because the Bible records something that doesn’t mean God recommends it. Contrary to some popular opinions, the Bible is not an instruction book that God directly dictated to human authors. The Bible is a collection of writings from different authors who record events in salvation history across different literary genres.
It’s true the Bible records evil deeds like the rape of Dina or Kane’s murder of Abel, but it does not condone these acts. This should be a common sense principle, but you’d be surprised at how many critics simply list Bible passages that sound evil and then make the incorrect inference that the Bible itself is evil. While ignoring the context of these passages, Pope ended the 16th address these kinds of passages in his post sonna apostolic exhortation verb domini. He wrote The following, God’s plan is manifested progressively and it is accomplished slowly in successive stages. And despite human resistance, God chose a people and patiently work to guide and educate them. Revelation is suited to the cultural and moral level of distant times and thus describes facts and customs such as cheating and trickery and acts of violence and massacre without explicitly denouncing the immorality of such things.
My colleague, Jimmy Aiken likes to say God was working with blunt instruments when it came to the people of Israel who lived in an historical context very different from our own, but God was able to use even their primitive cultural intuitions as part of his plan of salvation that he established from before the creation of the world. The catechism says this to God, all moments of time are present in their immediacy, when therefore he establishes his eternal plan of predestination. He includes in it each person’s free response to his grace. The catechism then references Acts 4 27 through 20 eight’s descriptions of Herod and Pils freely chosen evil deeds as part of this predestine plan and says, for the sake of accomplishing his plan of salvation, God permitted the acts that flowed from their blindness. In other words, as the saying goes, God can write straight with crooked lines, and even the leaders that God selected to guide his chosen people were not perfect like anyone.
This is especially evident in the book of Judges, which recounts how Israel constantly fell into idolatry and as a result was punished through foreign domination. But God had mercy on Israel and sent a series of judges to deliver his people from their oppressors. While some of these judges were good and noble people, others were of equality that apostate Israel deserved. And one of those judges is the subject of our case study on how to read evil Bible stories and his name was Jha. In judges chapter 11, the leaders of a region of Israel called Gilead asked Jha to drive out the Ammonites who were oppressing them. Jha accepted their offer, and after a peaceful approach failed, he prepared to go to war. Jha didn’t know if he could defeat the Ammonites, so he made the following vow to God, if you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whoever comes forth from the doors of my house to meet me when I return victorious from the Ammonites shall be the Lords and I will offer him up for a burnt offering.
To the ancient audience that heard this story, this is the equivalent of watching a modern horror movie and a character says, let’s split up. You brace yourself because you know something bad is about to happen. The story continues. Then Jha came to his home at mitzvah and behold, his daughter came out to meet him with Timbrels and with dances. She was his only child besides her, he had neither son nor daughter. And when he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, alas, my daughter, you have brought me very low and you have become the cause of great trouble to me for I have opened my mouth to the Lord and I cannot take back my vow. Some exs say that Jeha did not actually burn his daughter alive, but offered her up as a consecrated virgin. But this seems to contradict verse 39, which says, Jeha did with her according to his vow, which he had made, and his vow only mentions burnt offerings, not consecrated virginity.
But what does this episode prove? Remember, just because the Bible records his story, it doesn’t mean God recommends the actions in it. The biblical text does not praise Jha for what he did, and it does not say that God helped Jha because of the vow Jha made as opposed to just helping him deliver Israel because God loves his people. This is just another example of how the Book of Judges is more a description of what not to do than it is a model for how believers should behave. Now, some critics say that this story is evidence that the Bible possesses moral failings including a heinous acceptance of human sacrifice. Scripture scholar Tom Stark says that Jep says actions only makes sense of the Israelites thought that God would accept a human sacrifice. According to Stark, no repudiation of the sacrifice is found here, nor does Yahweh intervene to spare the life of JHAs daughter, Bible critic. Mark Ze agrees saying The lack of divine intervention stands in striking contrast to the Abraham and Isaac story. And here is one atheist YouTuber’s cartoonish. Take on the story.
CLIP:
I’m home. Daddy, daddy. Oh no. I told you his daughter would be the first thing to come out of his house. Stupid deal, Lord. Yeah. Now one of us has to go down and stop the sacrifice like when Abraham was about to kill his only child. Shall I go now? Lord, really? Lord, as soon as you’re ready, just give the word and we’re there.
Trent:
But God had already told the Israelites in Deuteronomy 1231 that sacrificing sons and daughters as burnt offerings was abominable. This lesson was taught as far back as the story of Abraham and eventually became part of Israel’s national identity. God did not have to intervene to tell Jeha not to do this just as God doesn’t intervene to stop every other grave sin in scripture or in our own lives. Unlike in the case of Isaac, God never commanded Jeha to offer anyone up as a sacrifice. So no special intervention was necessary. God’s word was enough for him. And so as God often does in scripture and life in general, God allowed the consequences of jetta’s bad decisions and sins to be his own punishment. Even if that involved Jha harming someone he cared about, keep in mind that Jha wasn’t planning to sacrifice his child to God since he had only one daughter and he was devastated to the thought of sacrificing her.
So who or what was Jha planning to sacrifice? Now, it could have been an animal since the Hebrew word Asher in judges 1131 can be translated as whatever. Instead of whoever, therefore Jha could have said, whatever comes forth from the doors of my house to meet me, I will sacrifice indeed. When many people return home, their dogs are the first to greet them. And the book of Tobit describes Israelites having canine companions. But it’s also plausible that Jha planned to sacrifice one of his slaves to Yahweh in exchange for a military victory. Jha may have believed that Yahweh would accept a human sacrifice, not because Yahweh revealed that to the Israelites, but because other nations sacrificed human beings to their deities and military victories sometimes followed these barbaric rituals. According to the Bible knowledge commentary, though Jha made his rash fo, he probably knew something about the prohibitions of the mosaic law against human sacrifice.
Yet his half pagan background combined with a general lawless spirit dominating the period of the judges could readily account for his fulfilling this vow. So instead of Jha being able to bless his family through the sin of murder, by offering a human sacrifice to Yahweh that would allow him to become a powerful leader in Israel, JHAs attempted murder and illicit human sacrifice brings the curse of murder upon his own family. However, other critics make the argument that judges 1129 says that the spirit of the Lord came upon Jha. Doesn’t that mean that God wanted Jha to sacrifice his daughter? No. The spirit of the Lord did come upon Jha, but that does not mean that God endorsed everything Jha did after that point. For example, the spirit of the Lord came upon Samson in Judges 1514, but not long after that, S Samson visited a prostitute according to Old Testament scholar Christopher Wright.
One thing that is said quite often about these judges is that the spirit of the Lord, Yahweh would come upon them. When this happened, it was a signal for action empowered by the spirit of the Lord, they could exercise charismatic leadership and do valiant exploits that were recited around the campfires of Israel for generations to come. Wright then lists seven instances where this phrase is used and each describes a person being strengthened for war, including jeha. The passages do not describe the person being protected from sin in general. For example, Wright says, the superhuman power given to Samson clearly exposes all two human weaknesses. A similar analysis can be applied to Jha, whose skill in combat did not aid him in fighting spiritual temptations. And finally, the critic could object that Jha was praised. In Hebrews chapter 11, alongside of the heroes of the Jewish faith, and so God did condone his human sacrifice.
Hebrews 1132 through 33 says, the following for time would fail me to tell of Gideon Barack s Samson Jeha of David and Samuel and the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms and forced justice received promises stop the mouths of lions. But the list of heroes in this chapter only describes people who were able to do mighty deeds because of their faith in God. Hebrews 11 does not say that these people were without serious flaws. Rahab was a prostitute. Gideon practiced idolatry. S Samson had a weakness for women, and David committed adultery and murder. JHAs vow only shows that he was a sinful human being who God used for the benefit of Israel, not that God willed or desired, that ppta engage in human sacrifice. Ultimately, the author of the book of Judges did not think his audience was so inept that he needed to write in big block letters.
What these people did was bad. Instead, the final verse in Judges hauntingly, indicts, Israel’s decrepit condition. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Every man did what was right in his own eyes. Once again, judges is not an instruction book on how we should live our lives. It is a warning about what happens when God’s authority is rejected. Pope Pi 11 said this, as should be expected in historical and didactic books, the Old Testament books reflect in many particulars, the imperfection, the weakness, and sinfulness of man. If you like to learn more about how to address tough Bible passages like this one, see my previous episode on Atheist misreading the Bible. Also check out my book, hard Sayings, A Catholic Approach to Answering Bible Difficulties. And Dr. Matthew Ram’s book, dark Passages of the Bible, engaging Scripture with Benedict the 16th and St. Thomas Aquinas. Thank you so much for watching and I hope you have a very blessed day.